In response to the President’s announcement that he will again delay executive action on immigration, Christine Neumann-Ortiz, exective director of Voces de la Frontera, released the following:

“Today’s news is a clear statement from Washington that once again, politics trumps the lives of people.

Six years ago, President Obama was elected on a pledge to pass immigration reform in the first 100 days of his term. Instead, his administration has squandered the opportunity to move a bill under a majority Democratic Congress.

They have chosen to continue the previous administration’s “endgame” enforcement policies to build and expand a deportation machinery that has torn families apart, criminalized working class people whose labor we benefit from, and only served to benefit private prisons and private military contractors on the border.

Yet again the President asks the people for more time. Our families don’t have that time – not when ICE’s arbitrary quotas demand that 32,000 people be detained a day and 1,100 end up being deported daily.

The major lesson for our movement now is to overcome the cruel partisan gamesmanship that dominates our culture, and for the people most impacted to escalate our activity and voices on the ground.

As immigrant families are being separated at historic rates and the fight to stop deportations heats up nationally, it’s more important than ever to challenge those responsible. On May 1st, we hit the streets of Milwaukee to say “Not One More!” Not one more family torn apart. Not one more child separated from their parents due to inhumane and unjust laws.

This year we’ll march from Voces de la Frontera to the Milwaukee County Courthouse, where without identifying themselves as federal agents, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers have been detaining people appearing in court for minor traffic violations or family court, and often processing them for deportation.

According to community members and media reports, federal immigration officials in plain clothes have questioned, detained, and placed in deportation proceedings people they suspect of being undocumented in county courthouses in Racine, Ozaukee, Walworth, and Milwaukee counties.

Without identifying themselves as federal agents, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers question people about their immigration status, and sometimes detain people appearing in court for minor traffic violations as well as family court. In one instance, ICE agents detained a woman with no criminal record who was accompanying her mother at a hearing.

By making immigrants afraid to go to court or contact law enforcement, these practices undermine public safety. The community is less safe when people are afraid to report crimes as victims or witnesses or are denied protections from the court from cases such as domestic violence. This is a violation of people’s human and constitutional rights regardless of their immigration status. By making people afraid to appear in court, these practices jeopardize people’s immigration status and their hope of legalizing in the future.

In response to the January 28th State of the Union address, Voces executive director Christine Neumann-Ortiz issued the following statement:

“We applaud President Obama’s proposed minimum wage hike in the fight against income inequality, and for economic justice for the working poor. His action shows that President Obama can use executive orders such as that one to achieve victories for the people who elected him in the face of obstruction by the most unpopular Congress in history.

We call on him to do the same with today’s deportation crisis, and use his legal executive authority to provide real relief for America’s immigrant families, who are being torn apart at historic levels since he took office campaigning on federal immigration reform.

2013 has been another incredible year of action & achievement here at Voces!

On October 17th, we honor our supporters – the defenders of civil and labor rights who contribute to the important work that Voces de la Frontera carries out at the state and national level.

We are thrilled to have the opportunity to step back and recognize our friends who have helped us get this far! Please join us at our People’s Gala to celebrate our victories, and preview the year ahead.

Tickets: $60 each for Voces members, $80 for non-members. Scholarships/sliding scale available for low-income supporters.

Tickets are still available at the Voces office (1027 S. 5th Street, Milwaukee) or:

While Congress is in recess and the President is on vacation, 44,000 immigrant families will be torn apart through deportation.

August 15th marks one year since President Obama implemented the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, a mandate through executive order that allows DREAMers the opportunity to come out of the shadows and be free from fear of deportation as well the ability to get a work permit and a driver’s license. Although DACA represents important progress, DREAMers and their parents need Congress to pass broad legalization with a path to citizenship this year.

At a rally in front of the Milwaukee County Courthouse, students, elected officials, business leaders, and immigration reform advocates celebrated the anniversary of DACA and launched a 12-city statewide tour for humane immigration reform during the August recess, titled “License to Dream: Strengthening Wisconsin Through Humane Immigration Reform”.

The time has come for a clear path to legalization for the 11 million undocumented people in this country. Below are some ways you can help: 1. Will you be 1 of 100 callers and commit to calling your Senator every day for the next week? We’re going to need to pass this bill with strong […]

Following an afternoon rally in which immigrant families from Wisconsin shared stories of separation and deportation and called on Senator Ron Johnson to support the federal immigration reform bill now headed to the US Senate, 18 US citizen allies of undocumented immigrants organized a peaceful civil disobedience action on the corner of Wisconsin Ave and […]

The following is a statement from executive director Christine Neumann-Ortiz, on the Senate Judiciary Committee passing the “Gang of 8″ immigration bill onto the Senate, with a bipartisan vote of 13-5 after several amendment hearings:

“Yesterday represents important momentum in the legislative process to create a path to citizenship for millions of New Americans. It is a credit to the determination of the immigrant rights movement, which demonstrated its political voice both at the ballot box and in the streets.”